Sean Penn says “Occupy Wall Street protest is telling the world we cannot be controlled by fear anymore” and that the protests have made him prouder than ever to be an American. The whole interview is very inspiring, and Penn is a thoughtful and articulate American philosopher.

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, my thoughts turn to peace. It’s hard to keep them there, though, because of the chorus of voices that scream for violence and war.

I grieve for those who died ten years ago in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania, as well as all who have died — and continue to die — in the wars spawned out of that attack. I long for the day when military fly-overs at football games become a thing of the past, and our cities have more statues to teachers than generals.

But the cheers for executions, and the willingness to spend billions of dollars on weapons to dole out death but mere pennies on social services that preserve life in one way or another for the most needy among us tell me that the day I long for is quite a ways off.

Fifty years ago today, East German soldiers began overseeing the construction of the Berlin Wall. That wall came down in 1989, but as Der Spiegel reminds us, other walls remain elsewhere in the world.

Even more insidious, though, are the invisible walls we build with money and defend with lawyers, all in an attempt to defend the status quo and nail things down as they are right now.

Sorry, but life is like a river, and you can’t nail it down. Count me among those who yearn for life without such walls.

The title here comes from a John McCutcheon song used in a video done as a 6th grade class project. To judge by this video, somewhere out there is a teacher named Mr. Cutler who is doing a very, very good job. The students were studying World War I, and they combined vivid and powerful images of that war and the ongoing war in Iraq with an equally powerful song by folk singer John McCutcheon called “Christmas in the Trenches.”

On this New Year’s morning, may peace be upon you all.

The fall and decline of an empire can take many years, but certain “benchmarks” (as imperial courts have been known to call them) can measure the progress in one year alone. Take, for example, the year 2010.

War is not politics, it is violence – murder – on an enormous scale. It does not lead to democracy, security, or good governance, it leads to anger, humiliation, and above all else, more violence.

Hopeful words from this week’s U.S.-Israeli summit are in conflict with decades of meaningless lip service to “peace process.”

Fifty-eight congressional candidates and 20 activist organizations are opposing any more funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and inviting more candidates, incumbents, and organizations to join them.  The 58 candidates, from 25 different states, include 19 Democrats, 18 Greens, 17 Libertarians, 2 Independents, 1 Republican, and 1 Socialist.

Not only is the French public united against the war, but Sarkozy’s entire government might well collapse because of this opposition. But we already knew this was the kind of pressure Sarkozy was under, because we read it in the CIA memo conveniently leaked just days before the French president arrived in the US.

With all the controversy raging around the Tea Parties, the Republican party, and the recent terror attacks against members of congress, I thought it might be helpful if we extend a helping hand to the Tea Party folks, and show them what we’ve learned from the recent history of the anti-war movement.